1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for conducting a spatially resolving magnetic resonance examination of a test subject divided into a plurality of arbitrarily prescribed regions.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known to undertake a plurality of phase-encoded discrete measurements at least corresponding in number to the number of regions of a test subject, employing magnetic fields for the purpose of phase-encoding. The phase dispersions corresponding to each phase-encoded discrete measurement are calculated for each region, and the signal part arising from each region is calculated from the calculated phase dispersions and from the aggregate signals obtained in all discrete measurements.
Such procedures make it possible to select and to determine the spatial origin of magnetic resonance (MR) signals within a larger test subject. Such methods can be applied both in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) as well as in electron spin resonance (ESR).
In a known method of the type initially described (Hu et al. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, Vol. 8, pp. 314-322 (1988)), gradient fields that have a linear locationdependency are employed for phase-encoding. The spatial resolution thereby achieved and the signal-to-noise ratio that can thereby be achieved, however, do not always prove satisfactory.